Up-and-coming Southeast Asian talents Alexandra Ila and Janice Chen have secured wildcard spots in the main draw of the WTA500 Mubadala Abu Dhabi Open, which begins on February 1st.
Eala, ranked 49th in the world, is the first Filipino player to rank inside the top 50. The 20-year-old caused a sensation last year, defeating Iga Swiatek, Madison Keys and Jelena Ostapenko en route to the Miami semi-finals. Since then, she has reached her first WTA final in Eastbourne and opened 2026 with a semi-final appearance in Auckland. This will be Iara’s second appearance in Abu Dhabi, having lost to Magda Lynette in the first round in 2024.
Chen, a Pepperdine University alumnus, made a remarkable breakthrough on the WTA Tour with Mercedes-Benz after graduating in 2024. Although he was unranked in June of that year, he broke into the top 100 just 16 months later, becoming the first Indonesian player to be ranked on the tour since Angelique Widjaja in 2004. Chen, 23, reached her first WTA final in Sao Paulo and finished 2025 in 53rd place. He won his first WTA title in Chennai. She made it through the second round at the Australian Open last week and will become the second Indonesian to break into the top 50 next week, following former No. 19 Yayuk Basuki.
The entry list for the main event in Abu Dhabi includes four key players: Jelena Rybakina, Jelena Ostapenko, Sofia Kenin and Barbora Krejcikova, as well as defending champion Belinda Bencic. Olympic gold medalist Zheng Qinwen, who missed the Australian Open to recover from an elbow injury, is scheduled to make a comeback in Abu Dhabi. However, former Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrusova was absent due to a shoulder injury.
Wildcards for next week’s WTA 250 Transylvania Open have also been announced, including 2024 champion and former world number one Karolina Pliskova. The 33-year-old Czech is currently ranked 1,057th and is recovering from a foot injury that sidelined him for 13 months in 2024-2025, having just reached the third round of the Australian Open.
Three more wild cards for the Cluj-Napoca main draw were given to Romanian hopefuls: former world No. 39 Ana Bogdan, No. 199 Miriam Bulgar and 19-year-old Elena Ruxandra Bertea, who will be making her tour-level debut. Beltaire has a record of 61 wins and 24 losses, and rose from 699th place to 319th place in 2025.
Former US Open champion Emma Raducanu heads the entry list for the main event, which also includes defending champion Anastasia Potapova, Olympic silver medalist Donna Vekic and the world’s top three Romanians Jacqueline Cristian, Solana Cirstea and Elena-Gabriela Ruse.
Home players for next week’s WTA 250 Ostrava Open have been given two wild cards in the main draw: former junior No. 1 Lucie Havlikova and former No. 40 Tereza Martinkova. Havlikova, 20, was the 2022 Roland Garros women’s champion. She was removed from the rankings last July after a one-year hiatus, but has already climbed to #281 this week.
Former Wimbledon semi-finalist Tatiana María tops Ostrava’s main entry list, which also includes Emiliana Arango, Viktorija Golubic and Katie McNally. The tournament returns to the WTA calendar for the first time since 2022, when Krejcikova defeated Iga Swiatek in the final.